‘Now that is nonsense,’ said Kate. ‘You’re too young and comely. All you need is to stay with us for a while. I thought when Joshua died that it was a mistake for you to shut yourself away at Fenwick.’
Anna turned on her. ‘You have not lost a son! How can you speak so when you have no experience of what I was suffering?’
‘Talking about it might have helped,’ said Kate quietly. ‘But you wouldn’t let us share your pain.’
‘Enough, love,’ saidOwain, giving her awarning look.
She sighed and nodded. ‘I’ll fetch the wine.’
‘Wait!’ said Anna, ashamed of herself for losing control. Staying Kate with an outstretched hand, she swallowed hard before continuing. ‘I beg your pardon for what I said, but now you’ve reminded me that I have forgotten to tell you that Jack Milburn is here. He says that he has come to see Davy. I mistook him for his twin. Why did you not let me know that Jack had been found?’
‘Jack is here!’ Kate’s blue eyes lit up. ‘It is true we knew he was alive and have been expecting him. But believe me, Anna, I did send word to you at Fenwick with the good news.’
Anna frowned. ‘Who did you send?’
‘Hal.’
‘Hal!’ Anna darted a look at Owain. Hal was the youngest of the Rowan brothers and still unwed despite being almost forty years old. ‘Perhaps he did not deliver the message…or, if he did, Will kept it from me. But why should he do so?’
‘I have no idea,’ said Owain. ‘We could ask Hal when he comes in.’
Anna shrugged. ‘What does it matter now Jack is here?’
Owain and Kate looked relieved.
‘I’ll leave you two then,’ said Kate, smiling. ‘I’ll have one of the maids make ready your old bedchamber, Anna, while I find my dear stepbrother. We will drink wine together and drink each other’s health. Are you hungry?’
Anna nodded. ‘I have not eaten since breakfast and no doubt Jack will be hungry, too.’
‘Then I will see that food is brought here.’ Kate left them alone at last.
‘Do you know what happened to Jack during his absence, Owain?’ asked Anna.
‘He was sold into slavery,’ he said, his expression grim.
Anna’s mouth fell open. For a moment she could only stare at him and then she collected her wits. ‘He sent word telling you of this?’
‘Nay. His twin did,’ replied Owain. ‘Matt never gave up hope, even when we did. He kept in touch with Jack’s agents in Europe and had them hire men to search for him. Eventually, when Matt began to doubt his instinct that Jack was in trouble but alive, a courier arrived with the news that he was in Venice.’
‘No wonder Jack has changed! How was he captured and how did he escape?’
‘I know only what Davy told me and that was little enough,’ said Owain, pulling up a chair and sitting opposite her.
‘Jack told me Davy was in Europe when he returned. I presume he was delivering horses.’
‘Aye. But he also had other business there and was in Bruges when Jack’s courier turned up at the agent’s house. Apparently Jack was suffering from a fever and that’s why he was unable to leave Venice. He feared he might die and wanted Matt to know of his abduction and his years of slavery.’
‘So Davy brought the message to Matt and then came here?’
Owain shook his head. ‘Davy arranged for a courier to deliver the news to Matt whilst he travelled to Venice. He found Jack recovered and journeyed with him to Bruges before going on further business for him to France. Davy returned home a week ago, just in time to see his daughter born.’
‘Joan has had a daughter!’ Despite her grief at the loss of her only son, Anna was delighted for the couple, who had five sons. ‘I must buy the child a birth gift when next I visit Chester,’ she added.
‘I’m sure Davy will tell you that you’re welcome to visit them,’ said Owain, smiling. ‘And I’ll have no talk of nunneries.’ He shook his head. ‘You know you’re welcome to stay here at Rowan as long as you wish. It’ll be good for you to be amongst your family again.’ Anna was silent. She had been away from Rowan too long to fit easily into her former position in the family. Yet where else could she go where she would be safe but here or behind the walls of a convent?
Restlessly, she rose and went over to the window aperture and gazed out over the darkened garden. The happenings of the day played over in her head and she felt sick with the remembrance of the disgust and terror she had felt when confronted by Will and that figure in the devilish mask. She felt her head was going to burst as images overrode each other. She turned round to face Owain and blurted out, ‘Tell me…did my mother have a lover? Did she cuckold our father?’
Owain’s expression was enough to make her wish that she had not spoken. Then a sound at the door shattered the strained atmosphere. ‘Did who cuckold our father?’ asked Davy, entering the parlour.
Anna felt the blood rush to her head and could only gaze at this giant of a man. He was the middle of the Rowan brothers and she knew him the least best of the three. He had married before she was born and lived on the Wirral with his wife and children, having his own stud farm. Suddenly she realised that Kate and Jack Milburn had followed him into the room. Anna wished she could disappear in a puff of smoke. Instead, she turned her back on them.
The moon had risen and she could make out the shapes of bushes and plants. Then, unexpectedly, she saw a devilish face loom out of the darkness. Her masked attacker! She could see the horns on its head and the same gaping, evil grin. She froze with fear. Was it a projection of her overwrought mind?
She managed to tear her gaze away and face the room. ‘There’s someone out there!’ she cried.
‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost,’ said Davy.
‘A devil’s face! It was grinning at me,’ she gasped.
‘It can’t be,’ said Kate, hurrying over to her.
‘There was someone out there,’ whispered Anna. ‘It had a red face and horns!’ She just stopped herself from saying that she had seen it before.
Davy and Owain exchanged glances. ‘One of my sons playing a trick with that old mask?’ suggested the latter.
‘What mask?’ asked Anna, shooting him a glance. ‘Are you telling me that you have such a mask in this house?’
Owain nodded. ‘I’m sorry it gave you such a fright. I’ll tan the hide off whichever of my sons did this to you,’ he said angrily.
‘But why should your boys play such a jape on me?’ asked Anna, unconvinced that either Gareth or his younger brother were responsible.
Kate said apologetically, ‘Boys will be boys. I’m so sorry, Anna.’
Jack frowned. He knew only to well the kind of ploys that boys could get up to, but this was not amusing. The sight of Anna’s strained pale face made him feel he had to find the boys and prove to her that it was simply a foolish prank. He left the parlour and followed the passage to the door that led outside.
He was instantly aware of the scent of honeysuckle, roses and gillyflowers combined with a strong smell of smoke, but there was no one in the garden. He thought he heard a faint sound coming from the stable yard and made his way there. But it, too, was deserted. He went into the stables and asked one of the men there had he seen either of the Rowan lads. He shook his head.
Frowning,